Mission accomplished. Wilson was named the Blue Hen tournament's outstanding wrestler on Sunday after he pinned William Penn's Brandon Dooley in 42 seconds to win the 220-pound title at Delcastle High.

"I'm glad to see that his hard work paid off," Curley said. "He really devoted the time this season. He started last year when he lost, preparing for this moment. It's nice to see a young man gain success from his heart."

It wasn't easy. Christiana struggled in dual meets, unable to fill all the weight classes as the Vikings finished the season with just 10 wrestlers.

"It's a little tough. There's nobody really to wrestle with at practice," Wilson said. "Mainly, I wrestle with the coaches. We have a pretty strong coach."

Wilson continued his workouts at home after practice each day. He was at his best against Dooley, earning a quick pin to run his season record to 31-3.

"It was a simple headlock," Wilson said. "I just expected to get two points. I wasn't expecting to get a pin right away."

The conference title will make Wilson one of the top seeds at 220 at the state tournament, to be held Friday and Saturday at Cape Henlopen High. Wilson likely will have to outduel two-time defending champion Thomas Ott on his home mat to go all the way, but Curley beamed Sunday while talking about his rapidly improving senior.

"We do as much as we can to help him," Curley said. "The coaches wrestle with him as much as we can, to push him in practice. We really focus on challenging our better wrestlers as much as we can."

Beware of Hodgson

Looking for a sleeper team heading into the DIAA Boys Basketball State Tournament? Hodgson may be revving up to make another deep postseason run.

The Silver Eagles lost four in a five-game stretch recently, and enter Tuesday's home game against Howard at 12-6. But a not-so-secret weapon returned to the lineup Saturday.

Bilal Nichols, a 6-foot-4, 250-pound senior who recently signed a letter of intent to play defensive end at Delaware, had 25 points and 15 rebounds in the Silver Eagles' 67-60 victory at Mount Pleasant. Nichols missed the previous 11 games due to a knee injury.

"Everyone elevated their game for that stretch that he was out," Hodgson coach Ed Sobocinski said. "But then as time goes on, it's difficult for everyone to elevate their game at the same time for a long stretch. I think it just kind of caught up with us."

The Silver Eagles won their first six games without Nichols, then went through a maddening stretch. Hodgson lost to Concord by one, to Polytech by five, to Middletown by three and to Blue Hen Flight B champion St. Georges by three.

"It's tough to beat those elite teams," Sobocinski said. "You kind of need a final punch. I think Bilal definitely has the ability to give us that final punch to get us over the top."

Nichols was welcomed back against Mount Pleasant, and he made an immediate impact. Hodgson reached the state semifinals the last two seasons, and even though the Silver Eagles' seeding will be lower this year, the big man's return makes them a threat.

"When we didn't have him, we could still win games, but our margin of error was so much smaller," Sobocinski said. "Honestly, against Mount Pleasant I don't think we played a great game. But he's able to elevate us, and our margin of error increases."

Rounding it up

-Flight A champion Newark (12-6) will meet Flight B champion St. Georges (15-3) in the Blue Hen Conference boys basketball championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday at St. Mark's.

- Salesianum's Dylan Huber has been named the Gatorade Delaware Boys Soccer Player of the Year.

- Archmere's Caroline Rath has signed to play field hockey at Ohio State.